Humidities What are the types of humidity?

Welcome back to our blog. Today we will talk about the different types of humidity that we can find in our homes and how we can combat them to keep the walls dry.

There are several types of humidity depending on their origin and each one must be treated individually if we want to definitively eliminate humidity from inside our homes.

The first step is to carry out a diagnosis to confirm the type of humidity we are facing and to be able to carry out an appropriate treatment. A correct diagnosis always implies considerable savings in time, money and inconvenience.

The importance of the analysis lies in the fact that there are different types of humidity that can affect your home, and each type must be treated specifically.

Condensation humidity originates when the water vapor existing in the environment inside homes condenses.

This phenomenon (condensation) occurs when the temperature inside the home is higher than that outside.

The condensation humidity They begin as a high level of humidity in the air, generally produced by cooking, washing or drying clothes indoors with the help of heating.

When this environmental humidity comes into contact with cold surfaces such as walls, mirrors, tiles or glass, it condenses in the form of water droplets. Humid air rises when it is hot and ends up on the ceiling and in rooms located at higher altitudes where vapors form.

This type of humidity usually stimulates the growth of molds in his house. In addition to aesthetic damage, it increases the risk of respiratory problems.

Leaving condensation damp untreated usually leads to the appearance of mold on walls, ceilings, furniture and clothing stored in closets and drawers. It can also affect plaster, iron and wood elements.

When cooking, let humidified air escape by opening a window or using the extractor hood, keeping the window open for 20 minutes after you have finished cooking.

Open a few windows in other rooms for a while each day. This allows you to renew the air inside your home.

Clean surfaces where you notice moisture to prevent mold growth.

Do not block air vents and allow air to circulate around furniture and drawers.

Avoid using gas stoves or paraffin heaters as these produce a large amount of moisture and are a risk to your health and safety.

Remember that pets and plants produce environmental humidity too.

If you have a dryer or washing machine make sure it is vented following the manufacturer's instructions.

Produce less ambient humidity.

Try to dry your clothes outdoors whenever possible or use small ventilated rooms.

Close the kitchen and bathroom doors to prevent the flow of humidified air from moving into colder rooms.

Keep pots covered when cooking.

Capillary dampness occurs due to a natural process that allows water and mineral salts from the subsoil to rise through the pores or capillaries of the materials with which homes are built.

This type of humidity is caused by the water contained in the earth on which the home sits and occurs when there is excess moisture accumulated at the base. Excess moisture evaporates through the areas that sweat the most, which is why the different materials absorb it and cause it to rise up the walls.

The accumulated water begins to rise through the foundation, continuing through the walls and walls depending on the amount of water they absorb.

The capillary dampness They can affect all buildings. It is a common problem in older buildings where a physical barrier against rising damp has not been installed or is damaged.

Over time, soil water works its way through the foundations of buildings until it reaches the walls.

This subsoil water contains mineral salts that are deposited on the surface of its walls when the water evaporates. In fact, these salts attract environmental humidity, generating a state of permanent humidity on your walls.

Virtually all buildings are surrounded by natural moisture that tries to get inside the building structure. Materials such as stone and brick are porous and soak up moisture like a sponge if there is no moisture membrane.

When a building is constructed, a way to prevent humidity Capillary is the installation of an anti-humidity barrier so that capillary moisture cannot rise through its structure.

When this barrier does not exist or has been damaged, the result is usually the appearance of capillary damp.

Capillary causes unsightly damage to the walls and is also a risk to your health, as it accelerates the decomposition of wooden elements in old properties and increases your heating costs because a damp wall cools quickly.

If you identify the appearance of rising damp, you can apply the following general rule: the sooner the damage is treated, the lower the cost of the treatment.

The crucial step to eliminate capillarity is to make a correct diagnosis, analyzing the origin of the humidity to then apply the appropriate treatment.

When your walls are affected, it is advisable to treat them as soon as possible, otherwise capillary humidity will continue to rise and aggravate the damage.

In many cases, a purely aesthetic moisture treatment is applied, which does not treat the origin. Examples of these solutions are the application of specific paints for capillarity, or the waterproofing of affected walls and walls.

These treatments do not stop the rise of water and simply hide the problem so that capillarity ends up passing through the waterproofing or increasing its height.

The usual thing is to carry out a chemical treatment that usually takes 3 steps

1. The application of a chemical barrier to prevent rising humidity. By applying this chemical barrier, capillarity is prevented from ascending through its walls, eliminating the capillaries at the base of its wall and stopping the advance of humidity.
2. This is usually followed by a decontamination treatment of the coating, sanitizing it and eliminating any existing moisture.
3. After this decontamination, a new coating is applied that minimizes damage caused by capillarity to its structure.

This type of humidity due to filtration they appear in areas with poor or no waterproofing. The absence of waterproofing allows water to make its way through facades, retaining walls or basements.

The water present in the earth surrounding a building comes into contact with its walls, degrading the construction materials and, in serious cases, causing structural damage, detachments of the coating, failures in the electrical installation and entry of water into the building. enclosure creating a humid environment with the health problems associated with it.

Even if you use a basement as a storage room, the humidity that invades the basement can damage the items stored there, causing significant financial losses.

One of the main problems in treating this type of humidity is finding the entry zone, since the symptoms observed are located in the exit zone.

This means that the source of the humidity may have its entry in a very different area since the water can travel quite a distance along the inside of your walls before coming out.

This path is produced by the differences in porosity found in its wall or by the existence of pipes or other elements that divert the path of said humidity.

With the correct waterproofing of the facades, roofs and all elements of the building in contact with the ground. It is very important to know the correct position of the waterproofing, if it is placed incorrectly it will no longer be useful.

You must begin with the corresponding checks of the affected walls and drainage channels. To do this, it is advisable to make holes in walls and slabs to know the state of the waterproofing and holes in the ground to know the height of the water table.

Depending on the affected area, the solution can vary enormously, from placing waterproofing on the roof to having to carry out excavation to fix the retaining walls of a basement from the outside.

Although there is a lot of variation depending on where the humidity is, a prior study should always be carried out to detect the origin and then take the necessary measure for repair, water-repellent solutions, new waterproof coatings, new sealing of joints...